Go BottomROPS Low Clearance arrangement
 | Chip11
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14 MA 
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2004-04-14 83151
Hi Folks,
I have been enjoying this board for a couple of weeks now, and find it very useful and interesting, I especially like the pictures of peoples tractors and projects. I am new to big tractors and a new owner of a John Deere 950 with backhoe. My 950 came to me in need of a clutch (two stage) and now that I have had the tractor apart and back together again, I hope to be able to start working in the yard again soon. I replaced the clutch at work, as it was a better setup to do this task than in my garage, which leads me to my question: I would like to retrofit my ROPS to a "low clearance" hinged style that I see as an option on new tractors and was wondering if anyone has done this to their machine? Has anyone seen a "kit" to do this? My machine is just over 7' high, and does not make it into the garage. I am thinking before I bring it back home, I could make this change where it is convenient to do so.
Thanks for any help
Chip11
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 | harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY 
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2004-04-15 83162
Chip11 Welcome Me thinks if you have some good fabrication skills you could do it. Go look see how JD does it, take a couple of pictures and have at it.
JD may also have a ready built retro fit for that style.
I can not say wether the fabrication would be as solid as it needs to be. But I would think if you boxed each side of the cuts and welded hinges on the box material you should have some reasonable amount of protection. ....
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| hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 3583 iowa 
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2004-04-15 83166
Chip11, welcome aboard. My only thought is a possible problem at trade in time, similar to trading in a lawn mower with the grass chute missing. Just for that reason I would fabricate an entire new folding unit, and keep the original around for trade in time. Might not hurt to talk to your insurance carrier too. The Deere salesperson told me recently that there are now about a million release forms to sign if you buy one of their new 4 wheelers, and after just recently changing insurance carriers they too are getting real picky about covering certian things. I researched several different companys before changing carriers. None of them would sell me coverage with a trampoline on the property period, all would cover me if a pool or pond were fenced and supervised, but at a higher rate, some would'nt cover me if I owned certian breeds of dogs, and four wheelers were iffy, Gators were fine. Sorry I wandered on to a different subject, but altering a safety feature could bring on future problems. Enjoy the day, Frank. ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2004-04-15 83173
I recall a story quite awhile back and from another board. Somebody said they cracked an axle housing when tightening a standard ROPS. Apparently there is a tightening sequence speced in the manual that he didn't know about. The problem was the clamps that go onto the tapered axle housings. Tighten the wrong bolts first and a lot of pressure can be applied to the housing by tightening the others--according to teh story.
The point is that I think the fit and angles of an ROPS done from scratch are fairly critical and drawings for the unit should be precise.
It would be good to sort out insurance issues and know if there'd at least personal injury coverage in event of an accident. I don't think there's personal injury coverage anyway if covered under most homeowner policies but medical coverage may be another matter. I wouldn't like to find myself hospitalized and in an argument with an insurance company as well. ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-04-15 83181
I agree with what has already been said here. Safety issues and liability are HUGE issues today.
I have a colleague who is a landscaper and took a realhit a few years ago buying some grass machines at an auction. They were Kubota front-deck's, F2xxx series machines.
The problem was, the prior owner, a private club, had a lot of trees and so they har removed the four post ROPS/canopies from all the machines to prevent damage, both to the machine and the trees.
When he went to add them to his insurance policy the broker asked if the ROPS had been modified or repaired, when he said "What ROPS?" the broker said "What insurance?, no ROPS, no private coverage or OHSA coverage and if you put them into service we cancell your whole policy."
Luckily he was able to find all but 1 in used inventory at various dealers, all together it cost him several thousand dollars to buy and install them. The insurance company insisted the installation be done & certified by a dealer.
Best of luck. ....
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 | beagle
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1333 Michigan
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2004-04-15 83215
Don't forget about your own safety. Trade in and liability are important issues, but you own safety needs to be considered first since you will use the tractor. Make sure whatever modifications you make are engineered to perform as well as the original. I have a folding ROPS and couldn't tell you if there are any other structural differences between folding and fixed. The was a discussion a while back about a dealer only changing out the top portion of the ROPS, from the fender up, to give a customer a folding system. Not sure whether this is proper or not. The folding ROPS are generally taller than fixed since they are used with BH attachments. You may want to talk to a dealer and see what your options are for reto-fit. ....
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| Chip11
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14 MA
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2004-04-15 83250
Hi,
Thanks for all the input, very useful. I have taken a look at the project at hand, and noticed that the vertical bars are not exactly parallel, which would make the hinge gemotery a bit of a pain to set up, and more time than I want to spend. So, I am moving to Plan B: Which is just lower the horizontal bar to the ideal height, (about 6" lower) and weld in a new bar with gussets, basically matching the former arrangement.
As for safety, the concerns mention are good ones, as my wife and others spend time in the seat want to keep all safe. The scope of work involved here is similiar to projects at work, and think when complete would be hard to notice a difference unless side by side a similiar model.
Chip11 ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2004-04-16 83277
Here's an idea that might affect the design thinking. I've never been certain if the object of an ROPS is to prevent a tractor from rolling if it flops on it's side or to protect the operator if it does roll. My impression is that most systems are intended to prevent rollovers but maybe some ROPS work to a different theory.
For preventing rollovers height likely is pretty important. For protecting the operator during rollovers the ROPS structure has to support the weight and forces of a rolling tractor. Changing the height could change the theory but maybe this is overly abstract thinking ....
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 | yooperpete
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1413 Northern Michigan
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2004-04-16 83284
I've always understood that it is to protect the driver in a rolling over situation. My Cadet 7275 ROPS is attached to the metal fenders with supports underneath. A simple bracket at the bottom has cross pins where the bracket has several hole positions to pin allowing forward and rearward tilting.
In your situation, it sounds like you want to move the ROPS backward for a low clearance situation. When using the backhoe, does you head bump the ROPS meaning that you may want to also tilt it forward slightly during BH use?
Deere sells a folding ROPS unit for their 4000 series and may also sell one for your model. Safety is always a critical issue as was posted. Buying JD original equipment may be worth the money in this case. If you or someone fabs a unit, a good point was to keep the original unit for the time when you sell it.
Do you live on totally flat land and stay away from ditches, etc.? You may just want to remove it when mowing under trees. Older farm tractors never had the ROPS system, however CUT's are like the SUV to the auto industry and have a higher potential for rollover because of their tall, short and narrow stance compared to most other tractor styles. ....
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| beagle
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1333 Michigan
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2004-04-16 83361
Even on flat ground, a torque over is always a danger. A toque over brings the front of the tractor over the back, or a back flip. I metioned in a different discussion about the 8N on top of my neighor a couple years ago. The tractor torqued over on him from towing with a three point attachment. If he would have had a ROPS, he probably wouldn't have spent a week in the hospital with a calapsed lung and broken ribs, he was lucky. ....
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